Structural calculations in Barking and Dagenham

Building control charges for structural work

Be First publishes a fee schedule for the borough. A loft conversion up to a set floor area has a fixed plan-check, inspection and VAT fee, and a larger loft or a chimney breast removal has its own line. The figures are in the data table on this page, taken straight from the schedule.

Other alterations outside the fixed schedules, such as taking out a wall and putting in a beam, are charged on the estimated cost of the work. The charge is the same whether you apply by full plans or building notice. Our fee covers the calculations, not the council's charge, which is paid to the council.

Basements and flood zones

A basement raises structural questions at the planning stage as well as at building control. The council's full planning validation checklist asks for a basement impact assessment on certain applications, prepared by a suitably qualified engineer or geologist, with plans, sections, ceiling height, access points and rooflight details. In summary, the checklist reads: engineer or geologist; plans, sections, ceiling height, access, rooflights.

The local plan adds a flood rule. For a basement, the council states: not appropriate in Flood Zone 3b. Restrictions also apply in the other flood zones, so we check the address before a basement design goes further.

The homes the calculations are written for

About 68.8 per cent of households in the borough live in a house, and in a house a chimney breast or an internal wall is a common candidate for removal. Each one needs its own calculation.

The borough has 3 Article 4 directions, 4 conservation areas and 49 listed building entries. Structural work in any of these also needs the planning position settled first, and we flag it at the first call.

When the simple rules are enough, and when they are not

The guidance is Approved Document A: Structure, 2004 edition incorporating 2004, 2010 and 2013 amendments. Its simple rules for walls apply here: Section 2C wall-thickness rules cover residential buildings of not more than three storeys. For a floor carried on a wall, the simple rules cover a span of up to 6 metres.

Any beam, wide opening or altered load path goes beyond those rules, and calculation is the route. For houses, the disproportionate collapse requirement is light: Houses not exceeding 4 storeys are Consequence Class 1 for disproportionate collapse. We confirm that in the calculation rather than leaving it assumed.

Party walls, price and related drawings

Excavation near a neighbour is controlled by the Party Wall etc. Act 1996: Adjacent excavation notice at least 1 month before work: within 3 m and deeper than the neighbour's foundations, or within 6 m and cutting a 45° line from their foundations. Our party wall notices service prepares them.

The fee is £295 with VAT included, fixed after the constraints check. You receive the calculations, a beam and padstone schedule and a layout drawing, and our building regulations drawings in Barking and Dagenham use them directly. A second chartered technologist checks the set before it goes in.

For the whole borough, see architectural drawings in Barking and Dagenham. The same service is offered in nearby Redbridge, Havering and Bexley, and the national picture is in our structural calculations guide.